Michael Faraday did not need modern electronics to uncover one of the central facts of electrical engineering: changing magnetic conditions can produce an electric effect in a conductor. That principle, electromagnetic induction, is why a generator can turn motion into electrical power and why a transformer can move energy between circuits without the wires touching.
The experiment behind the idea
Move a magnet through a coil of wire and a meter connected to the coil can deflect. Hold the magnet still and the effect largely disappears. Reverse the motion and the direction of the induced current reverses. The important ingredient is change. A magnetic field by itself is not a source of unlimited electrical energy; a changing magnetic flux through the loop is what drives the induced voltage.
Why this matters in real machines
Generators arrange conductors and magnetic fields so that mechanical motion continually changes the magnetic flux. Motors use the closely related relationship in the other direction: electrical current and magnetic fields create forces that produce motion. Transformers use changing current in one coil to create a changing magnetic field that induces voltage in another.
A good project question
Instead of asking only whether a coil can light an LED, measure how voltage changes with magnet strength, coil turns, speed and distance. Then measure the mechanical effort required. Good experiments connect the visible effect to the energy going into the system. Faraday’s legacy is not just a result; it is the habit of making the invisible measurable.